Science, Technology and Data

To borrow a famous legal quip, American privacy is protected merely by a thin layer of common decency, public policy, legislative safeguard, and judicial concern–a four-walled house built on, and of, sand.

AI will continue to permeate and transform cities. With the right guidelines, it will allow governments to improve citizen engagement, reduce tax fraud, and optimize energy, mobility, and waste management systems.

“For every dollar and every minute we invest in improving AI, we would be wise to invest a dollar and a minute in exploring and developing human consciousness.” —Yuval Noah Harari1 In June 2020, the veritable explosion of misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic prompted more than 130 countries to issue a statement on the burgeoning […]

Last month, Tesla was hit with two class action lawsuits from Model S owners who claimed they were charged excessively high prices and faced long wait times for vehicle maintenance and repairs; John Deere faced a similar class action lawsuit over their alleged violation of antitrust laws through their tractor repair policies, including software locks […]

I spent the last few days in Perugia, Italy, where I attended the 2023 International Journalism Festival. Such events are not places where journalism happens. They are aberrations, but they let journalists unwind, exchange views openly, and think big. One of the big issues discussed at the festival was AI. Advancements in AI technology are […]

While artificial intelligence technologies are progressing fast, compliance costs have become a huge financial burden for AI startups, already constrained by tight research & development (R&D) budgets. Complex regulatory processes, that vary across the globe give well-established technology firms an upper-hand over resource-constrained startups.1 If this continues, giant tech firms may monopolize AI technologies, phasing […]

We stand at a pivotal moment in our country’s history. Domestically, inflation is forcing Americans to stretch every last dollar to afford to put groceries on the table and fill up their cars. Globally, the United States must contend with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the rise of autocratic governments. In the face of these […]

The launching of Chat GPT by Open AI has sparked a heated debate about the future of language. Chat GPT is an AI-driven powered chatbot that allows people to have human-like conversations.  In an exclusive interview with the Editor-in-Chief of the African Policy Journal (APJ), Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u, John Mugane, Professor of the Practice of […]

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), recently spoke in an exclusive interview with Africa Policy Journal, calling on African nations to develop regulations to promote digital trade and e-commerce on the continent. She praised the efforts of young people who are engaging in digital trade and stressed the importance of […]

Zoox CEO Aicha Evans has highlighted the potential benefits of introducing self-driving “robotaxi” services, including reduced fares for passengers.  Speaking at the Harvard Kennedy School as part of the CEO Talks series, Evans explained that passengers spend huge amount on current ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft, adding that  80 cents of every dollar goes to the driver.  […]

AI is poised to dominate the economy of the future, but questions remain about how IP law will adapt to this new environment. As AI systems grow creative and make original inventions independent of the human mind, should the law accord AI inventions the same IP rights as those made by human? Examining cutting-edge legal developments in this field, Marcus Ho calls for Singapore to recognize AI as inventors to promote technological innovation and develop a robust AI eco-system that will drive the digital economy of the future.

In October 2021, art-based non-fungible token (NFT) project CryptoPunk 9998 sold for over $500 million dollars,isetting a world record for the most expensive NFT sold at the time. However, by leveraging blockchain’s transparency, many commentators soon discovered that 9998’s record-breaking price was not the result of a genuine purchase. Instead, the CryptoPunk’s owner simply utilized […]